A Quick One (While He's Away)

This was Pete Townshend's first attempt at a Rock Opera. "A Quick One (While He's Away)" was written because of an obligation to Decca Records that each member of the Who had to contribute two songs each to fill up their seconds album A Quick One, they came up short. So, Pete, at Who manager Kit Lambert's suggestion, wrote a "mini-opera" about a woman-a girl guide, actually-pining for her absent lover. As said above, she gets tired of waiting for her paramour to return, and has an affair with an engine driver. The man returns, and discovers them...erm....fornicating. However, he tells them that she is forgiven.

This song is split into six seperate melodies and tempos, all mixed together. And if you're wondering about the cellos...
"We wanted to put ‘cellos on the track but Kit Lambert said we couldn’t afford it. That’s why we sing ‘cello, cello, cello, cello,’.. .where we thought they should be."
-John Entwistle

This song was performed for three years before it showed up on Live At Leeds. By that time, the harmonics and instruments had been finely tuned into a piece of pop poetry. As Pete says before the track, Keith Moon was usually featured on vocals, but not at that particular show (Which is probably why it sounds better here...no offence, Keith :))

This "mini-rock opera" is indeed operatic, featuring many movements and an extravagant falsetto by Entwistle at the end. It's hard to believe that all this instrumentation and arrangement came out of three instruments. "A Quick One (While He's Away)" is truly a (underrated) rock masterpiece.